The Importance of Early Literacy Skills

I have been working on other more personal things for the past several months, but my TALK postings about Language and Literacy is still a top priority.  I am especially focused on early literacy with a special emphasis on K-2 because we are finding far too many children are not being identified as struggling readers during this critical period. Consequently they are not receiving the Tier 1, 2 or 3 services they deserve and need.  When children are not given that help in K-2, they are likely to struggle with reading throughout their school life. I will continue to add posts on early language development/skills, because reading begins with oral language!

To add depth to my posts, I am going to review my posting on my ScoopIt board where I have curated many sources for the past 4-5 years.  Here is that link:
https://www.scoop.it/t/dyslexia-and-early-literacy?page=1

And here is an example of a posting from that board:

https://www.parkrecord.com/news/reading-program-expands-to-park-city-elementary-schools/

Beginning a New Series About Learning to Read and Reading to Learn:Stepping into Reading

Language is important and a pathway to reading.

I AM coming back to this blog with an emphasis on early (k-3) reading skills.  There continue to be way too many 3rd graders who are not reading at 3rd grade level.

We need to examine the tools we have to teach early reading skills and why teachers and even special educators or Level 2 RTI teachers are NOT using these tools.

I continue to look for answers and suggesting helpful resource links.

Today I want to recommend a book I'm currently reading:  Unlocking Literacy: Effective Decoding and Spelling Instructions (2010) by Marcia K. Henry, who has worked in the field of reading instruction for struggling readers for more than 50 years.  This book is recommended by G. Reid Lyon, Louisa Moats, Virginia Berninger, Donald Deshler, Keith Stanovich, Susan Brady and Cheryl Gabig.

Becoming a Reader

How many children are learning to read in the early grades.  Here is a success story.

http://www.parkrecord.com/news/reading-program-expands-to-park-city-elementary-schools/

Reading program expands to Park City elementary schools

Teachers are trained to help all children read, including those with dyslexia   Carolyn Webber  October 13, 2017

From Discourse to Reading Comprehension?

When should we start addressing reading comprehension?  Is Kindergarten too early to work on reading comprehension skills?

We know that parents and other adults including preschool teachers are encouraged to begin engaging babies and toddlers in book “reading”.  Of course, the reading is being done by the parent/teacher/adult.  We also know that adults engage children in conversations about books, using, for example, “Dialogic Reading”.

When might we begin to “teach” reading comprehension skills in a somewhat more formal sense?

Let’s assume that it is possible to teach some reading comprehension skills in Kindergarten.  In my grandson’s kindergarten this past year, his teacher actively engaged the class in learning some basic reading comprehension skills—story characters, setting, and story plot.  They read both narrative and information texts.  They had “favorite” books.  They shared what a book was “about.”  They also wrote “stories” from their personal experience.

But are there curricula for teaching comprehension in the primary grades.  That’s what I’ll explore in the next series of posts.

Normal Language Development and the Role of Oral Language in Common Disabilities

This is a companion piece to the last posting on Language Development.  Children with disabilities like Autism, Learning Disabilities, and Intellectual Disabilities are very likely to have delayed oral language or an oral language disability.  Here is a power point explaining the areas that a speech/language/ pathologist might address.

What role does Oral Language Play in “Disabilities”

Speech-Language Pathologists— Who Are We, and What Do We Do

From the American Speech Language and Hearing Association, May, 2017

From ASHA Access Schools

http://www.asha.org/uploadedFiles/What-SLPs-Do.pdf 

The Role of Oral Language in Literacy and Learning

The role of Oral  Language in Literacy and Learning

http://92Y.org/WonderplayConference | With anecdotes from her own vast professional experience as a language Pathologist, Dr. Soifer discussed how Oral language is the foundation of literacy and a crucial skill for learning and social development. Oral language develops much faster than many people realize. Good language skills have far reaching influences on children's development. The specifics of language 

Published on Nov 20, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzpkRZvdOCw&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs 

1 hour 20 minutes

This is long but well worth your time.  It is like a mini course in Language Development.